Tim Farron is tipped by some as a future leader of the party. Credit: David Jones/PA Archive

Nick Clegg should not face a leadership challenge despite a "staggeringly disappointing" European election result, party president Tim Farron has insisted.

The Lib Dems "paid the price" for the decision to fight a strongly pro-European campaign, he said, as the party narrowly avoided a wipeout in the contest.

But Mr Farron told Sky News that the party's leader, who is facing calls from some activists including general election candidates to step down, should be praised for having the "backbone" to take an unpopular position over the EU and confront Ukip's "threat to British cultural values".

He told The Andrew Marr Show: "I have lost elections before and it is miserable, and I also understand why these people will feel that the message that they got back on the doorstep, that they don't like us being in government and so on, is a really difficult one.

"But I just think, at this time, it would be absolutely foolish for us as a party to turn on ourselves."